New Jersey man who helped dump body of former prom date sentenced to 18 years behind bars

By Storm Gifford

New York Daily News|

Jun 28, 2019 | 9:44 PM

Liam McAtasney, one of two men charged in connection with the death of Sarah Stern, looks to his attorney Chuck Moriarty during a detention hearing in Superior Court, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017, in Freehold, N.J. (THOMAS P. COSTELLO/AP)

Preston Taylor, the former New Jersey teen who helped dispose the body of his onetime junior prom date, will spend the next 18 years of his life behind bars.

Taylor had been a key witness in the murder trial of his roommate and criminal cohort Liam McAtasney, who strangled 19-year-old Sarah Stern as part of a gruesome robbery scheme in 2016.

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On Friday, Taylor, 22, was sentenced for assisting in the dumping of Stern’s corpse off a Jersey Shore bridge. He had pleaded guilty in 2017 to an array of crimes, including robbery and disturbing or desecrating human remains, reported nj.com.

McAtasney was convicted in February for first-degree murder. On June 19, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sarah Stern of Neptune, N.J., was murdered in 2016. (Facebook)

Prior to Superior Court Judge Richard English rendering his sentence, Taylor read a statement to Stern’s family apologizing for his role in her death — but the Sterns never heard it as they had exited the courtroom just as Taylor began speaking.

“I know no amount of apologies will bring (Stern) back,” said Taylor. “There are so many things wrong with this scenario that I wish I could take back. I should have known better and have done something to stop this.”

Earlier in the proceedings, Sarah Stern’s father slammed the heartless fiend who abetted in his daughter’s death.

“(Taylor) took Sarah’s lifeless body and moved it not once, not twice but three times and dumped it into the Shark River,” said Michael Stern in statement. “Evil, pure evil.”